Mantis
Mantis is a member of the Furious Five and a character from the Kung-Fu Panda series. He is voiced by Seth Rogen, who also voiced B.O.B. and Morton the Mouse. Personality Like the rest of the Furious Five (except for Tigress) throughout the first film, he begins to warm up to Po. He was impressed by Po's wholeheartedness, even though Po knew Master Shifu was trying to get rid of him. Pragmatic and open-minded with a dry sense of humor, Mantis was actually the first of the Five to develop acceptance and liking of Po as a person, alongside the factor of Po's girth, declaring size did little to define a warrior and could actually be used as an advantage, no matter what style one practices. Mantis is a strong defender of this philosophy of his, noted to be a tad sensitive regarding his own small stature (demonstrated when he impulsively whacked two enemy wolves who called him "cute"). Mantis also appears to be the most outspoken of the Five, and seems to possess a wry sense of humor, such as when Po was so startled by the appearance of Master Shifu (whom he had been impersonating) that the two soup bowls he had been holding got stuck to his chest, making it look like a brassiere, to which Mantis was seen struggling not to laugh out loud, along with Monkey. Kung Fu Panda '' Mantis makes his first appearance in the training courtyard with Master Shifu And the rest of his team. He then later partook in the Dragon Warrior Tournament, though his performance was not seen. After Master Oogway Suddenly sensed that the Dragon Warrior was among them, Mantis and the rest of the Five gathered in a line to prepare for Oogway's selection. Just as it appeared that Tigress was about to be chosen, Mantis, along with the others, was astonished when a panda named Po landed right in front of her. He was even more astonished when Oogway, inspired by this unexpected occurrence, proclaimed Po as the Dragon Warrior. After the tournament, Mantis and the other Five went over to the Training Hall, where Mantis was seen training in the Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors. When Po and Shifu finally arrived, he appeared less than impressed when Po commented on his similar size of his action figure . Mantis then watched as Po sparred with the adversary, and was subsequently knocked into the training course where he failed each and every single course, including the Wooden Warriors. That night, Mantis partook in making fun of Po along with his comrades while traveling up to the student barracks, unaware that Po was right behind them and could hear everything. The next day, when it appeared that Po had quit, they enter the training courtyard and found that he had gotten up and started training early, getting stuck in the process. As Po's training continued that day, most of the Furious Five sparred with Po, Mantis being the last before Shifu decided to spar with the panda himself. Mantis and Monkey looked at each other nervously as Shifu proclaimed this. He then watched as Shifu flung Po around before literally kicking him out of the palace and down the steps. It was at this point that Mantis and the other Five (sans Tigress) began to notice Po's determination and started to have some respect for him (though it didn't stop him from mocking Po's bouncing, earning him a reprimand from Viper). Once Po made his way back to the Palace, Mantis and Viper attempted to help him recover through means of acupuncture. However, Po's bulk made finding the right nerve points difficult, thus Mantis caused Po even more pain each time he stuck a needle in his back. The three eventually started up a conversation, commenting on Shifu's harsh way of treating Po. Eventually Tigress joined their conversation and told the story of Tai Lung while Mantis continued to apply more needles to Po's back. At the very end, he accidentally slipped up one needle and triggered Po's facial nerve, temporarily paralyzing him and stopping his heart. The humorous face he adopted almost caused Tigress to claw him, only being stopped by Mantis who explained the situation. Later that night, Mantis and the others all have dinner together in the barracks kitchen. Po served his noodle soup to the Five (excluding Tigress), and Mantis took an extreme liking to it. He also laughed along with the others (again, excluding Tigress) when Po did an impression of Master Shifu. But when the master eventually showed up in the middle of Po's impression, Mantis immediately stopped laughing. He was shocked with all the others upon hearing Shifu's announcement of Oogway's passing and Tai Lung's breakout, and stuck by Tigress' side when she insisted they handled Tai Lung themselves. Later that night, after Shifu outlawed their request, Mantis and the others followed Tigress out of the Palace that night and joined together to find and stop Tai Lung. After days of traveling, Mantis and the others finally located Tai Lung on the Thread of Hope just outside the Valley. A long battle ensues, each of the Five using incredible skill and prowess to fight the snow leopard. Mantis assisted by using his incredible strength to hold up the falling bridge while the other four and Tai Lung continued to battle. But when it seemed like they had won, Tai Lung reappears again and performs a chi block on four of the Five (Mantis included) — only sparing Crane so he was able to carry the rest of them back to the Palace in means of a message. Shifu and Po had just finished another day's worth of extensive training when they finally returned, Crane exhausted and the others paralyzed. The Five each told about their grieving experience, which placed doubt into Po when he realized that not even his idols, let alone five kung fu masters, could stop Tai Lung. But Shifu still believed he could defeat him, and they all went to the Hall of Warriors In the Jade Palace to retrieve the Dragon Scroll for Po. Shifu, Mantis, and the other Five watched as Po opened the scroll, and appeared just as confused when he said it was blank. Believing nothing else could be done, Shifu offered to stay behind to hold back Tai Lung while they and the rest of the Valley escape. Master and students shared a final respectful bow, knowing that Tai Lung may very well kill him. While Po went to find his father, Mantis and the other Five assisted in evacuating the Valley. Mantis was tasked with gathering the northern farmer, to which he did so before moving out with the others. They were all just about out of the Valley when a large golden gust pulsed and blew past them. The Five and the other villagers returned to investigate and found Po victorious in his battle with Tai Lung. Marveling at the panda's skill that enabled him to do what they could not, Tigress led Mantis and the others of the Five (as well as the villagers) in a respectful bow to Po as a kung fu master. ''Kung Fu Panda 2 In the sequel, Mantis and the rest of the Furious Five were witness to Pobreaking a new record of how many bean buns he can stuff in his mouth, which reached about forty. Soon after, Po and the Five were called to fight off wolfbandits attacking an Artisan Village. Mantis carried around a liuqin-playing bunny sitting on a stone, knocking out wolves, before quickly slicing apart the dual swords of another wolf. Mantis then leaped to Po's defense by kicking a number of metal pans to deflect a number of arrows fired at him. The fight ended when Po accidentally got distracted and as a result was hit by the Boss Wolf, who escaped, with the panda offering no explanation for freezing in battle. The next day, Shifu received a message from Gongmen City that Lord Shen had returned, with a new weapon that "breathes fire and spits metal", which had killed Master Thundering Rhino of the Kung Fu Council, and now threatened the entire kung fu tradition. Po and the Five journeyed to Gongmen City to confront Shen and destroy his weapon. While traveling by sea, everyone overheard Po and Tigress talking, which Viper interpreted as Po having "daddy issues". Mantis wistfully commented that he never got to know his father, because his mother ate his father's head before he was born. Viper reminded Mantis that the issue wasn't about him. As Po tried defending that he was okay, they had just arrived at Gongmen City. While Po was half of mind to storm the Tower of the Sacred Flame, Mantis restrained him, pointing out that Shen's wolves had already taken control of the city. The warriors then attempted to get to their target by stealthily scaling the rooftops. However, Po had chosen to go street-level in a dragon costume, which the Five took notice of and joined him in. After saving a sheep who was being harassed by a wolf, the former informed Po and the Five that the other Councilors, Storming Ox and Croc were being held in Gongmen Jail. They then evaded the wolves chasing them and discarded the costume to hide in barrels. Upon reaching the jail entrance, Mantis rolled up in his barrel and burst out and knocked out the guards after they regarded him as cute. However, when they met the imprisoned masters, Ox and Croc refused to leave their cell, citing their helplessness against Shen's weapon. Mantis was also instrumental in Po's first plan to stop Lord Shen. While the rest of the group was chained and brought into the peacock's tower, Mantis was put into a cage while Po replaced him with his wooden action figure. The real Mantis entered the tower undetected and was able to save his friends from Shen's cannon by snuffing out the fuse each time Boss Wolf lit it. Po and the rest of the Five were then able to free themselves. Tigress and Mantis then dislodged the cannon and knock it down to the bottom of the tower. However, Po once again allowed Shen to get away by freezing before him. The peacock flew to his foundry across the city, and as they watched him Mantis made the remark that several more cannons were waiting to fire on the tower. Through the explosions, fire and subsequent collapse of the tower that resulted, Po and the Five barely escaped alive. Returning to Gongmen Jail, now abandoned by the wolves, Tigress demanded from Po to know why he had hesitated. When Po eventually revealed that he wanted to know from Shen what happened to his parents, Tigress hugged him (to the shock of Mantis and the others), but decided to leave him with Ox and Croc while she and others continued their mission. The Five then attempted to destroy the cannon foundry, only for their efforts to be inadvertently foiled by Po. The Five raced to save him, fighting off Shen's minions, but were too late, and he was blasted away by Shen's cannon far out from the city. Shen soon captured the Five and bound them in chains, planning on executing them once his ships reach the harbor to conquer China. Mantis sighed, feeling he and the others were doomed, and saying he had expected to settle down with a nice girl someday who would later eat his head. Then out of nowhere, Po appeared, having survived, and he freed the Five. The battle was soon joined by Storming Ox and Croc, who had been convinced by Shifu (who had also journeyed to Gongmen City) to leave their cell. But during the battle, Shen fired his cannon at the masters, blasting them all into the open water. All seemed lost as Mantis and the others were down and Shen and his army were ready to destroy them. Then Po rose out of the water, and used his "inner peace" to evade and deflect Shen's cannon fire and hurl it back at his fleet, decimating it entirely. The masters witnessed Po confronting Shen on his flagship before Shen incidentally caused his own death when his cannon fell on him. Tigress helped Po out of the water, commenting that he was "pretty hardcore". Po then hugged her, much to the shock of the other masters. The rest of the Five then ran up to congratulate Po and they hugged him as well. The heroes all stayed to watch the fireworks flying out from the remains of Shen's flagship before returning to the Valley of Peace. Kung Fu Panda 3 There is also a glimpse of green statues of Mantis and Crane that have glowing eyes, which resemble the appearance of the villain, Kai, as well as the statue-like warriors that were seen fighting other members of the Five, a scene which Mantis and Crane appear absent from. In the English teaser trailer, Mantis was shown partaking in an exercise with Po and the other members of the Five, contributing his skill to transport a cup of tea to Shifu through the obstacles in the Training Hall. Gallery Mantis_4.jpg Mantis1.jpg U105P28T3D2064345F326DT20080617193156.jpg Category:Characters Category:Kung Fu Panda characters Category:Males Category:Bugs Category:Heroes Category:Insects Category:Teenagers Category:Adults Category:Dreamworks animation characters Category:Warriors Category:Kung Fu masters Category:Pessimists Turned Optimists